For nearly four hours Thursday morning, New York City was renamed “Jewtropolis” on Snapchat’s Snap Map.
After Twitter users flagged the glitch and brought it to Snapchat’s attention, the app’s third party mapping service, Mapbox, fixed the error and released a statement.
“This is now 100 percent fixed and should have never happened. It’s disgusting,” Mapbox CEO and founder Eric Gundersen told TechCrunch. “We’re constantly scanning for this, and it’s an error on our part.”
Over 420 million people around the world use apps supported by Mapbox, which means that the glitch also appeared on Citibike, Jump Bike, and StreetEasy maps.
While some were horrified by the anti-Semitic vandalism, Jewish Twitter concluded that the hacker could’ve done better.
“Big time missed opportunity here,” one Twitter user wrote. “Surely Jew York is the move.”
Big time missed opportunity here, surely Jew York is the move pic.twitter.com/IBfCuhpOCW
— Josh Kaplan (@JNkappers) August 30, 2018
“I’d have gone with ‘Jew York City’ if I was a witty anti-Semite hacker,” Twitter user Juniper Rose quipped.
I'd have gone with "Jew York City" if I was a witty anti-Semite hacker.
— Juniper Rose (@wholelottarosee) August 30, 2018
One Twitter user concluded that the reason behind choosing “Jewtropolis” over “Jew York City” is that there’s a “fine line between clever and stupid.”
I had two thoughts about this: Why Jewtropolis rather than Jew York City? Then, I remembered the line from Spinal Tap about the fine line between clever and stupid.
— Judge Roy Bean (@dhp23913) August 30, 2018
“This is ridiculous,” Jewish journalist Sam Sokol tweeted. “Everyone knows the proper anti-Semitic appellation is ‘Jew York City!’ Nomenclature matters people!”
This is ridiculous. Everyone know the proper anti-Semitic appellation is ‘Jew York City!’ Nomenclature matters people! https://t.co/xiDYULSH0r
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) August 30, 2018
Twitter user Morgan Siegel also chimed in to say it’s actually “Jew York City,” not “Jewtropolis.”
eXuSe mEeEeE iTs jEw YoRk cItY https://t.co/DXmnpf7bGu
— morgan ✨ (@morgan_siegel) August 30, 2018
Clearly, the vandalist is not a copy writer.
